Fisker, the plug-in hybrid startup that's won $828.7 million in government and private backing but delayed production of its Karma plug-in three times, has managed to assemble the first Karma commercial. If it's on video, it must be real, right?

The Karma may be a revolutionary design, but the ad itself hews to the luxury auto cliches. What's a little strange is that the Karma in the video appears to be the same one shown at auto shows around the world, absent some changes for production, such as deleting the awkward-looking shifter in favor of push buttons.

Fisker now says it will fire up the Finland factory line in February, with a target of 15,000 sales in 2011, and suppliers have said they are shipping parts for pre-production builds, but so far Fisker has produced far more pictures than reality.